My understanding as both an organizational psychologist and a business executive is that personality is the mechanism built in to each person to behave in ways that best meet their needs. We have our personality when we are born and it stays with us for our entire life. We may modify our beliefs, values, and approaches to life, which can affect our behavior substantially, but there is evidence that the basic needs from which we structure our personality is stable across our life.
With that said, how does the personality of the follower affect what questions the leader should ask? Personality is an extensive field of study with many popular tools such as Myers-Brigg and DISC to support how leaders interact with followers. I want to focus on two lesser known, but very powerful contributors to how people structure their behavior to meet their needs.
The first is called locus of control. Locus of control is the tendency a person has to attribute outcomes either to their situation or to themselves. Of course, the intensity of the trait will affect the frequency and assertiveness of the leader’s inquiry, but the following explanation of external and internal locus of control provides directional guidance on effective use of inquiry with followers.
An external locus of control (ELOC) individual will see their environment as reasons why they can and cannot accomplish a goal. When something goes wrong, they will feel that they are victims of bad luck or destiny. ELOC individuals, who have a need for control, will become easily frustrated when events do not happen as they wish. This may result in ELOC individuals demanding more of others. Questions for ELOC followers should cue them to what THEY specifically can do to move forward and not procrastinate. They need to be encouraged to ask about the situation in terms of a problem to be solved versus reasons progress is not being made. ELOC followers need inquiry that builds personal responsibility and confidence.
Internal locus of control (ILOC) individuals are those that see outcomes as a direct result of their own abilities and effort. ILOC followers will see failure as their fault, but will mainly see failure as only a temporary setback. The risk for ILOC followers is that they will not abandon a path when they should, or they may seize tighter control of the reins and start doing more things personally. They need to be asked questions that validate the approach and the outcome they are pursuing to make sure that they are not stubbornly trying to solve the wrong problem or one that is not worth more effort to solve. Questions that reduce the negative effects of overconfidence and personal control are helpful for ILOC followers.
One feature of personality is specifically related to how individuals are motivated. These are called approach and avoid motivational traits. Approach oriented people are concerned about missed opportunities or making an error of omission. Avoid oriented people are concerned about being blamed for doing something wrong or making errors of commission. These traits are mutually exclusive so Individuals. The person can be high in one and low in the other, or high in both, or low in both. The relationship of each trait to the other also effects how followers respond to leaders’ questions.
Followers with high approach are the ones that will want to achieve and not be satisfied with status quo. Low approach followers are usually the “go along to get along” followers. Questions for these individuals will generally need to focus on how they are feeling about how things are going and making them feel a part of the process rather than inquiry associated with greater achievement.
When followers’ approach trait is high and avoid is low they are more likely to take risks and initiate change. The leader will want to ask questions that help clarify the vision for change of the follower and make sure they are considering the risks. If approach is high and avoid is high (but not as high as approach) the follower will want to achieve big things, but will be quite cautious in their approach.
Questions for these followers should focus on making failure less of a concern since they are more likely to be focusing on the downside risks. Rarely, but interestingly, there are followers with both high approach and avoid, but avoid is equal to or higher than approach in intensity. These followers can be quite frustrated because they want to achieve at high levels but are afraid to make decisions. Questions that focus on the need to achieve versus the possibility of failing and inquiry that shows the leader’s approval for the follower to take action is very necessary.
So, while teaching leaders that they should lead with questions is a good start, recognizing that leaders and different followers do not tend to the same questions in the same way is ...
There is a Concierge ready and able to help @ www.lmxconcierge.com
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